The idea to visit France could seem like a good idea. But in the middle of the pandemic, it sounds crazy.
What if we’ll get stuck at some borders?
What if we’ll get stuck in France?
What if we’ll get sick?
What if we’ll have to go to the quarantine?
What if…
A week before our departure we still did not know if we’ll go somewhere. Fortunately, everything worked out, and we left on the first of July. Traveling to France was fun, filled with Netflix, a bit of coding, and a lot of sleeping. We've spent two days on the road and one night in Germany. The route was a pain in the ass, but at the end of the second day, we made it to Paris.
Paris welcomed us the most beautiful way. Right from the start, we got stuck in the traffic. It was around 16:00, and everyone was trying to get somewhere. After spending almost one hour in traffic, we finally got to our hotel. While getting there we got to learn few things about Paris and the people who live there. People from there do not use blinkers on the road, and they drive a bit crazy. We had a few close calls while driving with them. When we finally arrived at the parking at the hotel we got shocked. The entrance to the garage was… not small… but extra small. At first, we thought we would not make it, but we did. Until the moment our car was safely parked we were scared that we would get stuck somewhere, and be responsible for some big trouble.
After our small adventure in the parking garage, we got to our hotel. Normal class, nothing special or bad, just a normal hotel. The receptionist was not a fluent speaker of English, but she was able to check us in and have a small chat with us. And at that moment we got to know something I call “the French At Work”. All of us are rushing around trying to get as much work done, as we can but.. They have got a lot of time, like a lot. They are not rushing anywhere they just have time. So while she was chatting, laughing, and doing everything else than checking us, I was falling asleep. When she finally got done with our check-in, we realized how small the whole hotel was. The elevator was supposed to be able to take four people. But we had a problem with getting there just the two of us. After two trips in the elevator, everyone was in the room. One big bed, and one couch which pretended to be a bed. One small table and one improvised table. One bathroom with everything you would need. Once again nothing special but nothing bad. We had everything we could have needed.
At this point, the sun was still high enough for us to get outside and explore. What do you think of when you hear the word “Paris”? In my case, it is the Eiffel Tower.
The tower was located about 90 minutes from our hotel by walking. To make things easier at the start we decided to take the subway. After few questions, we had the tickets and we were standing at the platform not knowing if we were going the right way. So we just jumped into the carrier, hoping that it was the right one. Thankfully it was, and in a few minutes, we were standing in the center of Paris. Google pointed us in some direction, and we just walked. We took a walk next to the river, Seine, and we walked around the city a bit. In just half an hour of walking slowly, we saw the sign of Paris. The Eiffel Tower was just looking and waving at us. I do not know what other people say about it, but the tower is huge, like really huge. The whole monument is beautiful, and I could look at it for hours. We took few pictures, filmed a bit and sat on the grass next to the tower for a small moment. The Tower was closed so we could not get in there, but still, it was a great experience.
It was time to continue and visit the next big monument in Paris. Arc de Triomphe. At this point the sun was slowly, starting to set down. Once again, the Arc was really big. Huge. I feel like the people of French are doing things big, or they do nothing. After visiting both signs of Paris it was time to slowly get back to the hotel, and find something to eat. Luckily we found a shop nearby and we bought some baguettes and sandwiches alongside some sausages. We started to walk again, but after 20 minutes we realized that it was going to take much more time than we wanted, so we found the nearest subway station and hopped into the carrier. We came back to the hotel hungry, tired, and happy for being in a city like Paris.
At that moment we did not know how many things we were going to see the next day…